Chapter 437: Sanfeng Jin-in, Heaven-Slaying Star (1)

Hundreds of years ago.

That is, when the Taoist Zhang Sanfeng was still alive.

The Taoist, whose swordsmanship was said to have reached the heavens, finally subdued an evil dragon on Wudang Mountain.

It was a time when his allotted lifespan was nearly gone.

The evil dragon was so powerful, it seemed to have devoured the mountain’s vital energy. Even the Sanfeng Jin-in found its subjugation difficult.

Yet Zhang Sanfeng ultimately suppressed the dragon, even turning the whole mountain into a basin in the process.

But the aftermath did not spare even that absolute master.

His left arm had been torn off from the shoulder.

The cross-section of the wound looked as if something had bitten it off, charred black.

The karmic fire containing the evil dragon’s malice was lethal.

The Taoists of Wudang lined up before Zhang Sanfeng, who sat cross-legged.

The unparalleled Taoist preached to his disciples as he faced death.

There was not one among them who did not weep before Zhang Sanfeng.

Yet the master himself smiled, and at the end Zhang Sanfeng raised his hand toward the sky.

It was one of the Taijiquan postures.

Originally one hand points to the earth and the other to the sky as a ritual posture.

But having lost his left arm, only his right hand could point to the sky.

A pale thing emerged from the crown of Zhang Sanfeng’s head and ascended to the sky.

It was a feathered ascension.

Some interpreted it as corpse dissolution to become an immortal, but it was clearly ascent, a heavenly ascension.

Zhang Sanfeng’s body scattered like ash.

His soul fragment looked down at his weeping disciples and rose to the heavens.

It felt truly liberating.

‘Ah, I have truly gained freedom.’

Zhang Sanfeng thought.

How much he had left behind on earth.

There were many things he hadn’t accomplished.

He had not settled his final duel with the Heavenly Demon Zhao Guang.

But Zhang Sanfeng was a Taoist before he had become a martial artist, and he finally entered the realm all Taoists dream of.

The disciples on the ground looked as small as ants.

Even the once-grand mountain ranges of Wudang looked compact and small.

He realized how small the Central Plains were, where so many people fought and shed blood.

Zhang Sanfeng’s soul fragment continued to ascend.

‘Am I going to the Heavenly Realm?’

To ascend is to become an immortal.

The place where immortals dwell is the Heavenly Realm.

The Heavenly Realm is the sky, the world of the Thirty-Six Heavens.

Where was he headed?

Was the Heavenly Realm above those clouds?

Or was it where those stars are?

Or the moon?

Even as he imagined, his ascent continued.

At last he rose above the clouds, the earth no longer visible.

Mysteriously bright yet with the black night sky visible at that height.

Into the vast firmament where the air grew cold.

Zhang Sanfeng felt his consciousness shrink.

He had always wished to ascend to that high sky.

Finally, he reached the edge of the sky.

There was only nothingness.

No air, no temperature. A pitch-black expanse stretched endlessly.

No, those sparkling lights in the heavenly palace, were they stars?

「The cosmos…」

Zhang Sanfeng had finally reached the universe.

In that infinite space, how small did humans and the Central Plains seem…

He felt both powerless and insignificant.

Even having come this far, the Heavenly Realm was nowhere to be seen.

Did the Heavenly Realm actually not exist?

Just as that thought crossed his mind, a change occurred.

Some force was pulling Zhang Sanfeng.

A rift opened in the empty void.

Zhang Sanfeng was swallowed by it.

Helpless as if an infant, he drifted through the darkness.

Light appeared only after a long while.

“…Hah!”

Zhang Sanfeng sat up.

He was no longer in the darkness.

He was not drifting in the middle of the cosmos either.

There was land and there was sky.

The land was fertile, and the sky, which was now different from before, was dotted with multicolored clouds.

“This place is…”

The Heavenly Realm, and moreover…

“Welcome to Xuan Dao.”

Someone said this to him.

Xuan Dao is the city located at the highest part of the Heavenly Realm, the Dala Heaven.

A city of the Heavenly Realm where heavenly gods and Dala immortals reside.

Then the palace atop that high mountain must be the Jade Capital where the Heavenly Sovereign dwells.

Looking around, the trees and grasses were all spirit-condensing herbs.

The beasts frolicking were spirit creatures rarely seen in the mortal world, could this truly be a paradise?

“Are you the Sanfeng Jin-in?”

Zhang Sanfeng was now wearing a Taoist robe.

Beside him stood others likewise dressed like immortals.

“Yes, but who are you…?”

“My name is Yeo Dong-bin.”

Zhang Sanfeng’s pupils dilated.

Before him stood a sword-wielding immortal.

It was none other than the Sword Immortal.

Then the ones around him were…

“The, the Eight Immortals!”

They were surely the Eight Immortals.

A gentle smile spread across their faces at Zhang Sanfeng’s astonishment.

“Congratulations on your ascension.”

But Yeo Dong-bin somehow wore a bittersweet expression.

Zhang Sanfeng was too overwhelmed to notice.

“If this is truly the Heavenly Realm, then the heavenly gods are here—the Highest Deity, the Ultra Supreme Elder Lord, the Queen Mother of the West…”

“Aren’t they right here now?”

Jong Li-kwon, the eldest of the Eight Immortals, pointed downward with his finger.

“You are standing upon the body of the Mysterious Heavenly Highest Deity.”

Zhang Sanfeng looked down.

It was bare earth.

More precisely, a low hill.

He could tell at once that the terrain was a gigantic turtle lying down, slowly moving as if breathing.

It was not a human figure.

“That over there is the King Father of the East.”

Turning to the eastern sky, he saw a monster with thirteen heads slowly walking on the clouds.

“That running over there is the Mother of Lightning.”

A leopard-patterned giant horse was tearing at a spirit beast.

“Welcome to the Heavenly Realm, Jin-in Zhang Sanfeng.”

Even with Zhongli Quan’s gentle greeting, Zhang Sanfeng’s expression hardened.

The Heavenly Realm was not the world of humans.

The depictions of heavenly gods worshipped on earth were all solemn, dignified human forms.

But those were clearly…

‘…monsters, weren’t they?’

Zhang Sanfeng had to swallow that impious thought.

Yi-gang called to Zhang Sanfeng.

Zhang Sanfeng did not answer and continued flying.

The Sword-Riding Flight Technique was astonishing.

A person flying on a sword, this was something even Yi-gang, who was trained in Qi Sword Control, had not dared attempt.

It was a technique that only the legendary Sword Immortal Lü Dongbin could perform or demonstrate.

「Jin-in!」

Yi-gang could not have known that Zhang Sanfeng had learned the technique directly from Lü Dongbin.

At the time of his ascension Zhang Sanfeng had already passed the wall of the Absolute State, yet even after ascending he continued to refine himself.

Because that was all a ‘human’ like him could do.

「Will you continue to ignore me!」

“…I’m sorry.”

At Yi-gang’s shout, Zhang Sanfeng spoke but only uttered the same words.

The Sword-Riding Flight Technique was astonishingly fast.

If he lost his balance for a moment he’d surely fall to his death. Mountains flashed by far below.

Yi-gang’s irritation flared again at Zhang Sanfeng’s silence.

But he barely suppressed it.

He recalled the times he’d spent with Zhang Sanfeng.

In a world where the virtuous were rare, Zhang Sanfeng was undoubtedly trustworthy.

How many times had he saved Yi-gang’s life?

Had he harbored ill intent, Yi-gang would have been dead long ago.

As the Heavenly Demon had said, it didn’t seem likely that Zhang Sanfeng would take Yi-gang’s life under the Heavenly Realm’s commands.

「Very well. Then at least explain why you’re doing this.」

After a moment of silence, he finally spoke.

“…Priest, you were born with an exceedingly great evil fortune.”

「Evil fortune?」

He spoke of evil fortune.

It was true he’d lived a life full of hardships.

But it wasn’t the absolute worst life. Yi-gang knew that well.

“Do you believe in fate, Priest? That everything is preordained by a vast law?”

「…I do not believe.」

“Yes. Of course…”

Zhang Sanfeng hesitated a moment before speaking.

“Have you ever heard the saying that destiny is like brocade woven on a loom?”

「Yes.」

Each thread represents a person.

Those tens of billions of threads form the fabric that is this world.

“You, Priest, are like a knot that has formed in that brocade.”

「A knot.」

“When a knot appears, those who weave the cloth will cut it out with a blade; otherwise the whole fabric could be ruined.”

The weavers might mean the heavenly gods.

“I cannot leave you be.”

Before Yi-gang could ask, Zhang Sanfeng began to descend.

It was a dizzying descent, almost like a fall.

A deep forest valley appeared, and within it a dark cave.

“I’m sorry, Priest.”

Zhang Sanfeng formed hand seals using Yi-gang’s body.

“By the Heavenly Decree, obey!”

Yi-gang thought Zhang Sanfeng’s Taoist arts were not that great.

But that was not so. Look at what moved according to his verbal spells.

Rocks tumbled down to seal the cave’s entrance.

Will-o’-wisps rose and illuminated the interior.

It was a Mysterious Gate Formation.

Moreover, Zhang Sanfeng drew characters on the wall with his blade.

Seal.

Curse.

「What are you doing!」

Yi-gang felt it too.

“Rest here for a while.”

「What?」

“Just five years! I’ll devise a method in that time.”

「Nonsense! Have some restraint!」

Yi-gang could no longer tolerate it.

He wanted to immediately cast off the possession, but it would not come easily.

The opening of the heavenly path seemed to have greatly affected Yi-gang’s possession.

Zhang Sanfeng had already tightly seized control of the body.

Zhang Sanfeng twisted his body in surprise.

Because suddenly his right hand struck his own solar plexus.

It wasn’t that he couldn’t struggle at all.

“What are you doing! This is your own body!”

「Damn it, how can I be locked up for five years! What about father and the people trapped in the barrier!」

“I guarantee you’ll thank me later, Priest.”

Cut the crap and get out of my body!

That was the moment he was about to shout it.

The sealed cave entrance burst open.

Light flooded the cave as several people stormed inside.

They wore strange armor and carried spears.

Five-colored gauze fluttered though there was no wind.

“Zhang Sanfeng! Kneel and receive the decree!”

“This is the command of Old Immortal Nanhua!”

Faces not easily discerned.

And an ominous atmosphere.

Yi-gang realized these were not ordinary humans.

“Darn it, the heavenly generals already…”

Heavenly Generals.

Soldiers of the heavens.

They were not immortals themselves, but those commanded by Dala immortals.

They were the beings often thought of as legend. He never expected to meet them in reality.

「Are they here for you, Jin-in?」

‘Perhaps they’ve come after the Priest.’

Yi-gang and Zhang Sanfeng exchanged such thoughts.

“Kneel! Zhang Sanfeng!”

The celestial generals shouted.

「I don’t think they’re here for me.」

‘…Ahem.’

It was the moment Zhang Sanfeng decided to cut down the heavenly generals.

A great hole was pierced through the chest of the heavenly general who had been brandishing a spear.

Without caring about the bleeding general who collapsed, the suddenly appeared man slaughtered the others.

Peobeobeok! Kadeuk!

He snapped necks and crushed chests.

It didn’t take long before all the heavenly generals were dead.

The man covered in blood not of a human was a familiar face.

Ha-jun’s face, and the Heavenly Demon’s spirit.

“Zhang Junbao!”

He bared his white teeth.

“At last, it’s time to kill you!”

The Heavenly Demon had taken Ha-jun’s body again to pursue them here.

Zhang Sanfeng ground his teeth, his face pale.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep